Most major Gulf stock markets rose on Tuesday led by financial stocks, though Qatar was marginally lower, weighed down by heavyweight Industries Qatar. Saudi Arabia's main index lifted 0.4%, its seventh straight rise on the back of banks. The index has been up since EFG Hermes forecast the kingdom's financial sector would see 7.6% growth in second-quarter profit, year-on-year . Al Rajhi Bank gained 0.4%, while National Commercial Bank was up 0.7%. The Dubai index edged up 0.2% with Emirates NBD rising 0.9%. DXB Entertainment lifted 1.5%, a day after the theme park company reported 5% growth in second-quarter visits from a year earlier. Amlak Finance soared 6.5% on a media report that the firm was close to restructuring $1.2 billion of loans with creditors. In Abu Dhabi, the index added 0.3% driven by the country's largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank, which rose 0.5% and Emirates Telecommunications, which increased 0.4%. Kuwait's index declined 0.1 – its third straight day of losses, retreating from a spate of gains triggered by MSCI's decision to move Kuwaiti equities to its main emerging-market index in 2020. The index is still up more than 27% year-to-date, outperforming its Gulf peers. Qatar's index slid 0.1% with market heavyweight Industries Qatar losing 0.8%. Lender Masraf Al Rayan was up 0.5% after it posted slightly higher second-quarter profit. (Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru Editing by Andrew Heavens) Source: Reuters
